Life update - kick back with a cuppa...

Ok, so we skipped spring here in Ohio and mostly jumped right into early summer. It has been amazingly warm for about 6 weeks or so. April showers did not seem to amount to great storms, but were manageable bits of rains. Garage only flooded once so far.

Job- no longer have that job that was able to pay the bills and finance the needed modifications to Kia Rio.

Work life here is very different than in CA.

From the one experience I have had, coupled with stories from life long residents around here, and a very savvy woman who moved here from NY state 5 years ago and who has regular interaction with HR folks, the news isn't good.

There seems to be a real big "us" "them" deal going on. Many folks report "staying off the radar" at work, "staying out of the crosshairs." I was asked to be the big boss's "eyes and ears" - a request I did not understand during the interview - had I, I would have said no and thanked them for their time. I have also seen that phrase used in job ads. No f*ing kidding. People have talked to me about job improvements that they hid so they would not "get in trouble."

It is like the employees are seen as nothing but risk, liability and jail inmates that must be kept down, who are not really capable, lazy and won't do anything, much less a good job without threat of a stick. This is "management" at its worst.

I know many people hear and toss around the terms of management and leadership as though they were nearly the same or something. Not true. Not at all. Very different concepts. This employer focused heavily on management and had no leadership in the mix.

Now, this is certainly not an across the board situation for all companies here. I have been told that I should stick to the bigger national companies if I want a different kind of culture. But, in my informal data gathering, it is very very common here in Dayton.

I cannot recall working anywhere in CA where I had these types of problems, and so extensively. I am sure they exist, but I think the ratio is the inverse of what it is here.

With this approach so prevalent here, it is not surprising that Dayton has slipped from being a city with an amazing history of innovations (one of the highest per capita patents in the country up until a generation or so ago) to one that tops the Forbes list of fastest dying cities in the country.

Fear does not produce creativity or innovation. It produces people who are fundamentally unhappy, minimally productive and who regularly "meet the minimum requirements" with no plans to exceed. Never mind turnover. Keep your head down, don't attract any attention and just focus on keeping the job.

So, back to the job...

I told them they had a morale problem, and met with one of the C level folks to discuss strategies to resolve it. It was a highly solvable problem, except for one BIG problem that revealed itself during that meeting. Lack of any leadership skills by senior management, and a firmly entrenched lack of accountability.

Now, I thought this interesting because I had already started the middle management team on reading an excellent book - The Power of Personal Accountability. This C- level woman I met with was a "classic" example of the victim loop. She maintained that senior management had bent over backwards and it did no good, those folks needed to "get on the bus" or leave. (unfortunately the bus was a jail bus with bars on the window)

During our meeting she attempted to ignore the problem, deny it, blame the employees, rationalize (they had bent over backwards, afterall) and now with me she was resisting moving forward. Last stop on the victim loop? Hide. So, 2 days later, I was "let go" being told they made a mistake hiring me, and given my references that they "thought" they had a match. Senior management crawled into their shell to hide. Problem, what problem?

Well, I was already hating going there, so from the perspective of despising the culture of fear and low morale that they clearly did not want to do anything about, it was fine.

Financially, not so good. Ok, it is pretty bad.

I still don't have another job. I left there in mid March and so far there has only been ONE job that would pay my living expenses and provide the funds to fix up the house with a bit headed toward savings. I am getting ready to apply for it. No other jobs that are remotely appropriate for me or that pay enough to meet the basic bills. Economy here is beyond awful.

So, nuff about that...

Cats, all healthy happy killers.

Heljye and Ollie are growing so big, they are really close to full adult size. Well Ollie may not be close to adult size, he looks and acts very much like a Norwegian Forest cat and they don't reach maturity until 4 or 5 years.

Jaz turned 4 in April and Snuggie will be 4 in a couple of weeks. The wee ones turn 1 in August. Tashi would have turned 4 in August. I cannot believe how much I miss that little meeper.

The guys are enjoying the freedom in the yard and the IF - it has exploded into a leafy wonderland. I spent time out there in late Feb and early March after the fence was put up. I had to chase after the little ones until they acclimated. I have a good understanding of what is in the IF now and it is pretty cool, sans spiders and such.

There is a run off creek on the edge of my property. When it rains really heavy it fills with water and runs very fast. It was chock full of organic matter including fallen tree branches, leaves and so forth along with an amazing amount of garbage. I have filled a 90 gallon garbage can 5 times, and probably could fill 5 more with the yuck I pulled out of it. Never mind the car fender and the misc. glass bottles and broken glass still there.

Still it is really kind of pretty now that it is nearly clean of the garbage, but in another month you won't be able to see it for the growth.

I have been attempting to introduce native plants to the grounds. You may recall last fall I planted a Red Maple and a Canada Red Cherry tree. I am not certain if the cherry is native or not. They are doing beautiful.

In my clean up operations, I have discovered what might be an original stone walkway. It starts at the top of the stone steps that lead from the driveway up into the backyard and extends the length of the back of the house and ends at the side door (on the side facing the brick 2 story house). If it truly is a walkway, I will be very happy. I uncovered about 6 feet of it, so I have every reason to believe that it extends to the side door. Those 6 feet were buried under about 5 inches of dirt and grass.

I am trying to get rid of as much grass out of the yard as possible.

I really do not understand the obsession with grass and the whole "lawn" thing.

I am thinking that it came about as a result of the middle class trying to mimic the lifestyle of the wealthy so many years ago. The wealthy got the last laugh, with their hired gardeners to keep up the ridiculous mowing schedule.

Modern day lawn owners do some amazing things, like feed the lawn so it will grow faster. I guess mowing every 6 days is not enough work for them. Let's feed it, water it and then mow every 4 days. Oh, lets mow it real short, so it will require more food to keep it healthy, more water to keep it green, because grass roots mirror the length of the blades. 2" grass? 2" roots. That needs lots of water folks. Crazy...

So, I plan to relieve myself of the nuisance over the coming 3 years. My plan:

1st - eliminate all the grass between the sidewalk, driveway, house and entrance to the garage. It is that bit you see in the picture on the blog - between the sidewalk and the garage door. It is about 14 x 14 but is a wedge shape. Replace it with wildflowers and herbs.

2nd- replace the grass along the inside of the stone walkway with wildflowers. The walkway makes a small arc behind the house, and at the widest point it is probably 4 feet from the house to the stone walkway and at the narrowest, probably 3 feet. So there is about a 36' x 4' of grass to go away.

3rd - enlarge the very small flower bed behind the house. I made it last fall and it is about 6 x 10. I plan to make it more like 12 x 16. Also native wildflowers.

4th - I am killing the grass on each side of the fence, about 14" out on each side. Using hay with goat manure given to me by some goat folks. Not sure what I will plant there, but something to provide a visual barrier along the side next to my neighbor.

5th - Plant another maple tree in the front yard _ grass does not seem to grow well under them. The little maple in the backyard will also discourage some of the grass growing back there!

6th - plant a non-aggressive native groundcover along the road side of the fence, and underneath the maples and between the maples. Let it gradually consume the whole front yard...

That should leave me with a grand total of about an equivalent of a 30 x 60 space that needs to be mowed.

Works for me.

So - have I done anything on this effort? Yes, but that is another blog post!

Stay tuned for my adventures with the "beast."

My health?

Mentally and emotionally I am tip top. This despite the fact that I am essentially totally broke, yup, after years of being quasi-employed in low paying jobs, the funds are all gone...

Physically I am mostly good - well parts of me are problematic and parts are really good...

I have done something to my left forearm and hand. The pain is mostly gone but my hand still swells up. Went to the chiro and had some neck and wrist adjustments. Wish I had a job, my back needs lots of work. Still have the low back pain but it is not as painful as it used to be. My left ankle is feeling a bit, possibly arthritic. I think it could benefit from some chiro adjusments and as soon as I land a job I will be back on Dr. Harker's table. I don't like him as well as I do Dyanna Anfang in Berekely, but she is a tough act to follow. He is good though, but not like a pal like Dyanna.

The good parts are that I am getting some muscle tone back. Heck, I have a pretty decent set of guns - that is biceps for those that need the interpretation... not as big as when I was 20 and bodybuilding, but not so bad for a middle aged old broad. They now stick up as high and the flab below hangs down, so it is kind of a wash...

So, that is the scoop at the moment. There is more, but gosh this is way long...

Besides, I have finished my huckleberry lemonade. Doesn't that sound perfect for Ohio. Ok, it is Torani syrup and not reall huckleberry juice, but hey. Torani is NOT easy to find here. So, yup I had to grab it at Jungle Jim's.

I also scored BIG on turmeric. Now if you look in the spice aisle, they want about $5 for an ounce. 1 ounce. I went over to the India aisle (smart girl I am) and got a 14 ounce bag for just over $2. Yes, that is a ton of turmeric! I also nabbed a 25 pound bag of Jasmine rice and a 10 pounder of basmati. Fresh vegetables will be here soon and I will be the queen of stir fry during garden season.

OK, really gotta go. Love you all much.